Seeing Silver

In the last article, I introduced you to the two levels of RevSelect: silver and gold. They both incorporate a reseller (silver) or publisher (gold) element, but this is where we begin to see the differences. The silver and gold levels mirror the ‘real world’ of computer product retail sales and publishing.

In the “real world” of product sales, a retailer is a conduit - they sell with very little discrimination, any number of competing products. They also know that other resellers, online or bricks and mortar, are also selling it. While they can manage the customer experience to a certain degree, there is nothing stopping a customer from stopping by the store, asking lots of questions, then going home and ordering the product from some online discounter. Because of this, resellers do not invest strategic planning resources into selling any one vendor’s product unless the relationship with the vendor offsets market costs associated with the reseller. Although the product is resold by a retailer, it is still the responsibility of the vendor to reach out to the customer.

The RevSelect Silver program is a reseller program. Runtime sells the product and offers systematic benefits of the RevSelect program to the vendor. Also, the relationship is non-exclusive: the RevSelect Silver vendor can sell elsewhere, too. But, mirroring the world of retail, it is firmly the responsibility of the vendor to actively promote, upgrade and support their product. If you already have this capability then Silver is for you

Golden Rule of Publishing

The gold partner makes less per sale (50% of sell through) and grants Runtime a publisher’s exclusivity for selling it. So right - who in their right mind gives away both control and more money - they would have to be totally nuts! Not so nutty as you might think when you consider the total value of the gold level.

The silver plan is a retail plan, so RevSelect Silver vendors gain a conduit to customers but do not gain publisher level, proactive planning and integration into the Revolution product line. Under the gold plan, the Runtime marketing and sales team are working with you to set and meet release objectives - right along with Runtime Revolution’s own products. Because of this Runtime can:

• Ensure that you get the information you need about Runtime Revolution’s market strategy to keep your product compatible with Revolution, as well as balance your releases against the Runtime Revolution release schedule. The entire Revolution user base knows about your product.
• Integrate your product, as appropriate, into Runtime Revolution public events. For example, Derbrill Software’s Animation Engine received additional coverage with the direct participation of Derbrill Software at the IFA 2006 consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany.
• Promote your products through additional venues where Runtime Revolution products also appear. Another example with Derbrill Software’s Animation Engine is the appearance of Animation Engine in a tutorial in MacFormat Magazine. Gold level vendors also may have their own forum on Revolution Forums to support and promote their product.

One recent addition as a Gold Vendor is Camelot Video’s RevConWest 2006 DVD. This product is being reconfigured to make it even more appealing to the entire Runtime Revolution user base. This Convention in a Box product is technically not an add-on to the Revolution IDE or an external, yet it provides exceptional value to anyone learning Revolution.

What Color is Your Metal?

At this point you may have an idea for a RevSelect product but are not sure if its a good fit or not. Don’t dispair - contact us! We want our existing RevSelect vendors to create new products and also provide feedback to them as to what we believe are the most profitable sorts of products to launch on RevSelect. But we also want to expand RevSelect with new partners!

So which program is better for you: silver or gold? Runtime recognizes that some business simply cannot become gold partners. For example, you may already have a reseller network, or, you have strategic challenges because of how you cross-sell your products. If either are true, then silver is for you. Runtime loves to have gold partners, however its more important for both you and for Runtime that its a partnership that results in the highest overall gains in market value and profitability.